CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – Clarksville Police detectives on Tuesday charged William Harvey Ellis, 32, with criminal homicide in the 2017 murder of Marcellus Flynn in Lincoln Homes.

Ellis, also known as “Streetz,” is already incarcerated in the Montgomery County jail on unrelated charges, according to a news release from Detective Michael Patterson.

He has a criminal history extending back to 2009 with several charges ranging from driving on a revoked license to drug possession and aggravated assault.

2017 murder

On April 13, 2017, at 1:37 a.m., police responded to a shooting at 10F Ernest Shelton Drive. Officers found Marcellus Flynn with a gunshot wound.

Flynn was taken to Tennova Healthcare Clarksville, where he died of his injuries.

On the day of the murder, a witness saw Flynn and Ellis arguing, according to court records obtained by Clarksville Now. The witness told investigators Flynn had stolen two “eight balls” of cocaine from Ellis.

Another witness reported just before the shooting seeing Ellis pull up in a car, roll down the window and open fire on Flynn, according to those records.

In 2018, CPD teamed up with Clarksville Crime Stoppers to ask the public for tips regarding five unsolved murder cases between April 2017 and January 2018, to include Flynn’s murder.

History

In 2010, Ellis pleaded guilty to probation violations, simple drug possession and criminal trespass. He served 30 days in jail. The following year, Ellis pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and was sentenced to eight years probation.

In 2016, Ellis was charged with DUI and violating probation, and he pleaded guilty to both charges. His sentence of 11 months, 29 days was suspended to probation, but he still served two days in jail, and his license was revoked for a year.

Ellis was also at the center of a 2017 case where seven bounty hunters set up a sting operation to catch Ellis, who was skipping out on bond. During the failed sting, the bounty hunters shot and killed 24-year-old Jalen Milan Johnson on April 23, 2017, and wounded another man. 

Several of the bounty hunters were charged with first degree murder, but found not guilty of all charges following a jury trial in August of 2019. Only one was convicted of reckless endangerment firing a deadly weapon. He was sentenced to 18 months probation in October of 2019.

Also in 2017, he was charged with possession of schedule IV drugs, three counts of possessing a firearm as a felon, weapon possession, drug paraphernalia and probation violation. Ellis pleaded guilty in 2018 to the drug charge, possession of a weapon as a felon, and violating probation.

Court records show Ellis was then charged with possessing a weapon as a convicted felon on Feb. 1, 2020. That case was bound over to the grand jury along with 2019 charges of aggravated burglary and assault, where indictments were returned for 11 additional charges, including DUI second offense, possession of a handgun while under the influence, drug possession and open container violation.

This case was scheduled for trial May 19, 2021.

Anyone with additional information about the case is asked to contact Detective Carlton at 931-896-3824 or 931-648-0656, ext: 5172.